Community-based type 2 diabetes screening programmes designed for priority populations: a scoping review protocol

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 15; no. 6; p. e090787
• Main Authors: Ali, Muhanad Ahmed, Ali, Fatema Mahad, Gerstle, David, Zehra, Aimen, Fazli, Ghazal S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 23.06.2025; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Community; Community Health Services; Design; Diabetes; Diabetes and Endocrinology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - diagnosis; Disease prevention; Early Diagnosis; Grey literature; Health Equity; Humans; Inclusion; Intervention; Librarians; Mass Screening - methods; Medical screening; Peer review; Point of care testing; Primary care; Protocol; PUBLIC HEALTH; Research Design; Scoping Review as Topic; Subject heading schemes; Canada; PUBLIC HEALTH; Health Equity; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-090787

BackgroundType 2 diabetes is a growing public health concern, and it continues to disproportionately impact priority populations. Although earlier and more frequent screening of diabetes promotes early detection to prevent adverse outcomes, this is a significant barrier for priority populations due to inequities that hinder access to critical preventive screening in primary care settings. The purpose of this scoping review is to better understand the design and implementation of screening and early detection of type 2 diabetes in community settings for priority populations to reduce missed or delayed diagnoses and future potential adverse outcomes.MethodsThis scoping review will adopt the methodological framework of Arksey and O’Malley and be enhanced using Levac et al recommendations. A search strategy was designed using insights from experienced librarians through the Peer Review for Electronic Search Strategies to conduct a comprehensive search using the following databases: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL and Google. The search will capture studies focused on community-based diabetes screening using point-of-care testing and deployed in community settings serving priority populations with undiagnosed diabetes. Studies will be excluded if priority populations were not a focus, individuals living with diabetes, the intervention is not implemented in a community setting and did not use point-of-care screening. Two authors will independently review and screen the articles (title, abstract and full-text), while a team-based approach will be applied to chart the data. A thematic analysis will be used to identify emerging themes and subthemes according to barriers and enablers of implementing an equitable community-based diabetes screening intervention.Ethics and disseminationThe findings from this review will inform future diabetes screening interventions in community settings to enable an equity-informed approach in the design, planning and implementation of such strategies. Equally important, it will inform a larger project, in which the team plans to implement a community-based diabetes screening programme in Ontario, Canada.